Norwich City sack manager Chris Hughton following defeat to West Bromwich Albion

Manager sacked following defeat to relegation rivals

Under pressure: Chris Hughton's Norwich side have a tough run of fixtures to end the seasonPhoto: ACTION IMAGES

By Peter Higgs, Carrow Road

10:45PM BST 06 Apr 2014

Chris Hughton was sacked on Sunday night as Norwich City became the latest club to panic in the face of relegation. The Premier League’s bottom seven clubs have all now changed manager. Hughton was axed after the home defeat by relegation rivals West Bromwich Albion on Saturday left the Canaries still five points clear of relegation but facing a daunting run-in.

Their last four matches are against top-five teams, the odd one out is next Saturday, at Fulham, the club immediately below them. In charge for that match will be Neil Adams, who has been promoted from youth coach on a temporary basis to the end of the season.

Hughton’s departure also means there is now not a single black or mixed-race manager in the 92-club league set-up, Chris Powell, Paul Ince and Chris Kiwomya having pre­viously been sacked this season.

A Norwich statement said the board had “taken the decision to give the club the maximum chance to secure the points required between now and the end of the season to ensure retention of our Premier League status”. The statement said: “Chris’s achievement in guiding City to an 11th-place finish in the Premier League last season was an ­excellent one and he has represented the club with dignity. However the recent run of four defeats in our last six Premier League games and six consecutive away league defeats, left the club with no choice but to act.”

With Hughton’s coaches, Colin Calderwood and Paul Trollope, also ­leaving it falls to Adams, who oversaw the club’s FA Youth Cup triumph last season but has no managerial experience at senior level.

There is speculation that Norwich would have preferred to bring in former player Malky Mackay, but the terms of his dismissal from Cardiff City this season may have made that difficult. Another contender in the long term is Sean Dyche, who is on the verge of leading Burnley into the top flight, but he also will not be available until the summer.

What division Norwich will be in then depends on how quickly Adams can revitalise a squad enduring a crisis of confidence.

Adams played 206 matches for Norwich in the 1990s. The club said his “long experience as a player, coach and as a media analyst for BBC local radio means Neil understands the club and its fans extremely well”.

“To say that I am delighted to have been offered the opportunity would be a massive understatement,” Adams, 48, said. “People know what this club means to me, and so it goes without saying that we will be doing everything possible to ensure that we maintain our top-flight status.

“These final five games will be a huge test for us, and everyone must step up to the mark. But with the full backing of these magnificent Norwich supporters we will have every chance of achieving our objective.”

Fans had called for Hughton’s dismissal on Saturday with some hurling cardboard clappers – issued to improve the Carrow Road atmosphere – one of which hit the manager at the end of the match.

Norwich had been inept with Morgan Amalfitano’s well-struck 16th-minute goal enough to revive the battling Baggies as they defiantly held out against waves of mostly uninspired attacks.

Hughton, speaking an hour after the match, said: “I was hit by a clapper at the end of the game but knowing our supporters I would not think it was specifically aimed at me. There was a bit of frustration and a few being thrown all over the place.

“It didn’t hurt – but the result did. That’s where I’m hurting at the moment. I’m hurting as much as ­anyone and I can understand the frustrations. No one wants to be in this position.”

The Londoner will be hurting even more this morning after being fired for the second time in his career having also been shown the door by Newcastle United in 2010 seven months after leading them back to the top flight and with the club mid-table. He then had a successful season at Birmingham City before being head-hunted by Norwich in the summer of 2012. Last season he steered the club to safety despite a period of poor form. However, supporters’ complaints about a perceived negative style of football grew this season as the club struuggled to score goals.

The failure of the £8.5 million record signing of Ricky van Wolfswinkel did not help, the Dutchman scoring once in 22 appearances. With other forwards signed in 2013 Gary Hooper (£5 million), Luciano Becchio (£3 million) and Johan Elmander (loan) scoring six in 67 appearances between them, Norwich have scored 26 in 35 league games. not even managing a goal a game at Carrow Road.

By contrast Albion’s new manager Pepe Mel, after a difficult start, is now on the brink of ensuring another season in the top flight at the Hawthorns with this victory ensuring the furore that followed last week’s dressing-room dust-up is forgotten and the 'crisis club’ label left in Norfolk.